“Stop!” I giggle. I can’t help laughing. Maybe I’m finally cracking under the pressure, but it feels so good to stop worrying, just for a second, and let myself laugh. “I get it!”

Raze chuckles, looking pleased with himself. His crooked grin reminds me of the first night we met, unbearably self-satisfied yet genuinely delighted. “And this one,” he says, gesturing to a small, jagged sunburst right at the crook where his shoulder meets his chest, “is from this girl I knew once who could enchant lightning from the sky.”

My laugh fades. I’d know that mark anywhere. It’s the smaller, fainter twin of the scars etched on my own body. It’s my mark. “I’m sure you deserved it,” I say softly, a smile still tugging at my lips.

“That’s debatable.”

Comfortable silence hovers in the air as the laughter ebbs, and both our eyes lock on the far horizon. A breeze I don’t think is mine stirs the air, making me shiver and shift slightly closer to Raze’s side—still not touching, but just barely.

My fingers twist together nervously.

“So, what next?” Raze finally asks, brushing my arm with one hand as he reaches up to push his drying hair back from his face. I’m not sure if the touch is intentional or not.

I swallow hard, turn from the lake, and tilt my head up so that I can see his face. “We have to figure out how to get back?”

He sighs. “I was hoping you had some more specific ideas.”

“Personally, I’d recommend heading north, if you’re absolutely dead set against bargaining with me.”

My shoulders bunch. How did I almost forget about Gossamer? His voice came from behind me, but now he materializes behind Raze.

I grit my teeth, trying to keep my eyes from flickering between the faerie’s face and my friend’s. “I don’t know,” I say, not sure which of them I’m talking to.

Raze says something then about his tutors and the lessons he skipped, but it’s hard to focus on what he’s saying as Gossamer circles us. “I’d offer to help, changeling, I really would. It’s just...” The faerie reaches out to tuck a stray strand of damp hair behind my ear, and I flinch away. “Well, at this point, if you leave the Unseelie Realm, I go, too. Unless you want to try to make me an offer I can’t refuse...”

Last night, he told me visiting a faerie realm might help him build the strength he needs to stop sharing my mind, my magic, my body. It feels strange to admit, but despite the deep, aching sense of dread I feel seeping into my skin from the earth itself, this detour might actually save us both. “So you’re stalling,” I blurt, before I can think better of it.

Raze tilts his head, puzzled. “Are...are you okay? You just kind of twitched—”

“You’re stalling,” I repeat, this time staring directly and probably too intensely at my human companion. “Because you don’t know where to go.” I let my gaze drift away, back to the serene lake. “What’s east of here?”